


my legs are fine

by swatkat



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, Gen, Henry Pov, Mother-Son Relationship, Post-The Miller's Daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 16:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1556672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swatkat/pseuds/swatkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry doesn't think his mom would leave Storybrooke without telling him. She didn't even go to work without saying goodbye first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	my legs are fine

*

Henry's passed out on his grandma's couch when he hears the knock: once, twice. Sharp, and painfully familiar.

_Mom knocks like that_  is the first thing that comes to his mind, but that can't be right. Mom is with  _her_ mom, who has a heart now and Mr. Gold—his  _other grandfather_ , how weird is that?—is dead and nothing makes sense.

Mom wouldn't come knocking at his grandparents' place anyway. She'd break the door down with her magic and try and kill everyone except him, she'd—

'Stay here,' Emma says sharply, and he can tell she's thinking the same thing. 'Don't open the door.'

She lifts her gun like it's supposed to protect them against  _magic_ , and then she slams the door on Henry's face and he's left scrambling to reach the keyhole, which is  _still_ a bit high even though he's gotten way taller. 

He hears voices—Emma's voice, and _hers_ , he  _knew_  it was her at the door, he  _knew_.

'Manhandling me is hardly necessary—' A loud thump, and is Emma actually fighting his mo- the Evil Queen? 'For god's sake, Miss Swan,' the Evil Queen says. 'Unhand me. I'm here to talk.'

Emma hisses a bad word he's not supposed to say and Mom just sort of sighs and says, 'I came to tell you that I'm leaving.'

 Her face is all wonky and misshapen through the tiny peephole and she's _lying_ , of course she is. The Evil Queen always lies. 

'Like hell I believe you,' Emma says, and Henry nods in approval. His mo- The Queen never let him say 'hell' either but he doesn't see why he shouldn't because Emma says it all the time and  _she's_  his  _real_ mom.

'What does your superpower tell you, dear? Am I lying?'

_Yes_ , Henry wants to scream, except he's not supposed to talk or make any sort of noise. 

And then Emma lets her go, and shakes her head. 

They're both really quiet for a long time, enough for Henry's calves to ache because the peephole's too high up and he's been on his tiptoes the entire time. 

'Why?' Emma says.

'My mother,' Mom tells her, as though that explains everything.

'But her heart—' 

'A heart makes a person  _feel_  more strongly, Miss Swan,' his mom says. 'It doesn't make them a different person.'

They're both quiet again, and Henry's left trying to piece things together inside his head. The Evil Queen leaving would change  _everything_. 

_If_ she isn't lying. It could be another part of her plan to destroy Snow White.

'She's… recuperating,' his mom— _the Queen_ —says, and she doesn't sound like she's lying. She sounds sad. Henry can't see her eyes but he knows there'll be tears in them and he really hates it when she cries. He hates that it makes his chest hurt. 'Hook has offered us passage in his ship. We will be in another realm by the time she's recovered.'

'She framed you,' Emma says. 'She made us believe you killed Archie.'

'And you fell for it,' she says sharply. 'I told you I wasn't lying and you still fell for it.' 

'I know,' Emma says. 'I'm sorry.' It's like Emma's telling her not to go away, which is weird.

It's weirder that Henry almost wants her to succeed.  _Wants_  to ignore Emma's firm instructions and go out and challenge the Evil Queen. He'll ask her what her  _real_  plans are and make her confess the truth.         

'I'm the only thing she has left in this world,' she tells Emma, sounding tired now. 'And… it's best if she's not around Henry.'

'What am I going to tell Henry?' Henry doesn't like how Emma's voice breaks there in the end. 

'The same thing I told you, that I left. It's for the best, isn't it?' The Queen says. 'And tell him… that I love him very much, no matter what anyone says. Tell him… tell him to think of me sometimes.' She's smiling softly—smiling!—at Emma, and this  _has_  to be an evil plot. It has to.

She wouldn't leave Storybrooke without telling Henry. She didn't even go to work without saying goodbye first. 

'My lawyer will pay you a visit after my departure,' she says. She steps a little closer to Emma, and Henry tenses. He doesn't want Emma to get hurt. 'I trust you to protect Henry with your life,' his mom says.   

Nobody says anything after that. 

 

* 

 

There's a man at the door and he says he's his mom's lawyer, but that can't be true because everyone knows Mrs. Nolan is mom's lawyer.  _Was_ , before the curse broke.

Henry says so, to which he smiles and pats his head. Henry  _hates_  it when people do that, like he's some kid who knows nothing. 

He's tall and handsome and dressed like he's straight out of one of the lawyer shows Mom keeps watching, his thick, wavy hair tied back in a neat ponytail. He says his name is Jafar Siddiqui and Emma sort of stares at him open-mouthed at that. 

Henry doesn't trust him. Maybe the Evil Queen has hatched a new plot. She hasn't been seen for over a week now and Emma keeps saying that it's because she's left, but Henry doesn't buy it for a minute. He's heard her whispered conversations with Grandma when they thought he was sleeping, and she broke the new toaster the other day.

She wouldn't just go away. Henry  _knows_  her. 

Jafar hands Emma a big envelope and says, 'Adoption papers, as per my client's instructions. Congratulations.' His smile is all teeth. Henry doesn't trust him at  _all_. The papers are probably fake and this is just another way for her to try and get him back. 

Too bad, because Henry's not going anywhere. 

'Anything else?' Emma says, sounding a little hoarse. He thinks her hands are shaking a little.

'Her will leaves your son as the sole beneficiary of her estate. We're still in the process of drawing up the paperwork,' Jafar says.

'You mean she gave me her car?' Henry blurts. 'Really?' 

It sounds wrong, because his mother would never let anyone touch her car. She said he could take driving lessons when he turned sixteen and  _maybe_  she'd consider letting him drive the Mercedes then. She was smiling when she said it, her eyes bright and happy, and he remembers smiling as well.

'She did,' Jafar says, eyes twinkling. 'Are you considering driving lessons?'

'I'm not old enough to drive,' Henry bristles.

'That you are not,' Jafar says, and laughs. It feels like he's laughing  _at_  him, and Henry hates that. He wants this man to  _go away_. 

'Are you finished?' Emma says, crossing her arms. She's definitely mad at Jafar too, and maybe a bit mad at his mom.

Jafar fishes out a small, white envelope from his pocket and hands it over to Henry. 'For you, Mr. Mills,' he says. 

HENRY, it says on top of the envelope, in a neat print he has known all his life. 

 

*

 

It's dark. It's the first thing he notices when he steps into the house—dark, and very, very quiet.

She's not here. 

It could still be a plot—it probably is—but the couch is covered in a white sheet and so's the television and the refrigerator has nothing inside it. The refrigerator is  _never_  empty, not when Mom's around. She likes to keep it stocked with juice and snacks in case Henry ever gets hungry at night, and there's always ice cream in the freezer. She keeps leftover in Tupperware boxes and heats them up when Henry asks her to.

He's not sure why heart sinks a little. Grandpa's a great cook and Grandma's always fussing about him not eating enough for a growing boy.

And besides, she could still be hiding somewhere else, like her crypt. Biding her time.

Her room upstairs is dark as well. Her wardrobe has been emptied out. 

He sits down the bed that no longer smells like  _her_. The small, unopened envelope tucked into his pocket feels heavier than his heart.

 

*

 

Emma's next to him when he wakes up, a warm hand resting gently on his forehead.

'I fell asleep,' Henry says. 'I didn't mean to.'

Emma says nothing, just runs her fingers through his hair like she does sometimes. Henry doesn't mind.

'It's my house now. I can come if I want,' Henry tells her, although Emma hasn't asked him anything, hasn't said anything at all about him not meeting her at Granny's after school like he was supposed to.

'Of course, kiddo.'

Then she wraps her arms around him, which is a little weird because Emma's so not touchy-feely usually, but also nice. Emma's arms are strong and secure, and Henry's left feeling a bit like he's a little kid all over again.

He used to climb into bed with his mom sometimes, when he was small. She'd hug him and press soft kisses on his forehead, call him her little prince. It used to make him smile, like he was someone special. 

He figured out later why she called him that. 

He leans into Emma's touch, and she hugs him a little harder.

It doesn't feel like his mom's hugs, but he isn't going to tell her that. 

***

**Author's Note:**

> Writing exercise, trying to get into Henry's headspace mid-S2 and figuring out a possible scenario that'd lead to Regina leaving Henry behind that makes sense to me.


End file.
